Hanson Dodge Partners with the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design on Summer Intern Programme

Above: Megan DeAngelis, account director (middle row, second from left) and Mikey Kok, integrated media planner (bottom row, far right)

For the fourth year in a row, Hanson Dodge (HD) partnered with the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) to host high school students as part of a summer internship programme. The programme was launched in 2021 as a way to expose students to a career that might not yet be known to them, as well as to infuse agencies with a burst of summer energy and fun. HD was the inaugural company to partner with MIAD and has since helped the programme grow to more than 60 participating students and eight local partner businesses. HD alone hosted 16 students this year – its largest class ever.

As part of their two-week internship at HD, students get to work on a real-life client assignment. In 2021, the client was Johnsonville Sausage. In 2022, Visit Milwaukee. Last year, the Milwaukee Pretzel Company. And this year, the Harley-Davidson Museum. Their assignment was to get local community non-Harley Davidson riders to visit the Harley-Davidson Museum campus by showing them that they are missing a key destination that is part of the Milwaukee spirit.

The interns were divided into three groups, each of which came up with their own unique solution to this challenge. For example:

Group 1 devised a poster campaign that showed off the personality of the Museum (“Make Harley You”).

Group 2 devised an interactive experience which invited people to take part in a scavenger hunt, looking for a series of 20 collectable stickers scattered about the city, with the chance to win a full course meal ticket at the Motor Bar and Restaurant. Included were animated videos.

Group 3 devised a sidewalk campaign that showed off the Museum’s full cultural experience.

As Megan Suardini, marketing director, Museum & Milwaukee Experiences, Harley-Davidson Motor Company, commented, “It was truly inspiring to see how passionate and thoughtful the students were on the assignment…we loved hearing their fresh perspectives and how we can better incorporate new approaches to reach non-riders and the next generation.”